Could you comment on the important milestone of New Zealand and Vietnam upgrading ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership (CSP)?

Warrick Cleine, chair of the New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam

This is a special year for New Zealand and Vietnam, marking 50 years of diplomatic relations, and coming at a time that many of the two countries areas of common interest are under threat.

Prime Ministers Pham Minh Chinh and Chris Luxon shook hands on February 27 on the visit of the latter to Hanoi, confirming the culmination of many years of hard work to realise the CSP.

This is not new for Vietnam. The country has been working hard to build stronger diplomatic and economic relationships with many partners, and the CSP framework has been helpful to differentiate the various relationships. This provides focus for both officials and business leaders in each country, and should over time deliver outsize economic, cultural, political, and social benefits to the two countries.

How does this elevation unlock new opportunities?

On the face of it, New Zealand and Vietnam are very different. Vietnam sits at the heart of Asia, a fast-growing economy of 100 million people, with an ambitious industrial strategy and increasing importance as a manufacturing hub for global exporters.

New Zealand, on the other hand, is a remote western liberal democracy located in the South Pacific, a member of the Commonwealth with just over five million people, and the majority of exports related to primary production in the agricultural, horticultural, and seafood industries.

However, this hides the intense common interest that both countries have as smaller, export trading nations, in preserving and promoting the rules based global trading order, particularly through multilateral organisations such as the World Trade Organization, and through the mutual entry and recognition of free trade agreements.

Vietnam and New Zealand worked hard to maintain momentum for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, signalling common interest in high value and mutually respectful trade relationships. As the new US administration further shakes up the global trade arena, such relationships and common missions take on new and urgent importance.

What is the outlook of economic and business activities between New Zealand and Vietnam under this new arrangement?

It is the differences between the two countries that compel a closer relationship. Vietnamese consumers love the sort of clean, green, and healthy produce that New Zealand is so great at making. This drove New Zealand exports to Vietnam over the $1 billion mark last year, and encouraged over 8,000 Vietnamese to visit New Zealand, despite the costs and challenges of doing so.

New Zealand’s world-class English language education system is also appealing to Vietnamese students, with 1,800 of them currently studying in the country.

On the other hand, Kiwis love buying Vietnamese-made products, validating the countries push to become a manufacturing powerhouse, with over $1.7 billion of exports last year, mostly in electronic goods, footwear, clothing, and machinery.

New Zealanders recognise the value of growing economic, cultural, and social relationships with Asia. According to a recent survey by the Asia New Zealand Foundation, two-thirds of Kiwis see Vietnam as important to New Zealand’s future. The announcement by Vietjet that they will commence four weekly direct flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Auckland from September 2025 will only see this increasing, as more Kiwis and Vietnamese have the opportunity interact with each other.